Vietnam football’s achievements praised on FIFA website

Updated at Wednesday, 04 Jan 2017, 11:27

The Hanoitimes - “In Asia, qualifying for a FIFA tournament has long been regarded as a major achievement. New contenders have emerged over recent years. Among these fast-developing football nations are Vietnam,” said the International Football Federation website.

The Vietnamese Football Federation (VFF) on January 3 said that the International Football Federation (FIFA) website has recentlty run an article to hail achievements of Vietnam futsal and U-19 teams.
In 2016, Vietnam defeated Japan in the quarter final at the AFC Futsal Championship 2016, gaining a ticket to the World Cup Futsal 2016. Meanwhile, U-19 Vietnam has secured a ticket to the U-20 World Cup 2017.

“In Asia, qualifying for a FIFA tournament has long been regarded as a major achievement. New contenders have emerged over recent years. Among these fast-developing football nations are Vietnam, who twice made history in the past year by qualifying for two FIFA competitions for the first time,” said FIFA website.
“First of all, the Vietnamese stunned even their own supporters by finishing among the top four in last February’s 2016 AFC Futsal Championship to reach the 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup Colombia,” the article said.
It mentioned that the Vietnam footbal finished a memorable year by qualifying for the prestigious FIFA U-20 World Cup, which will be held in Korea Republic in 2017, with an impressive preliminary campaign that included an unexpected victory over the tournament hosts, Bahrain.
In addition, the article said that along with their World Cup successes, Vietnam also qualified for the recent U-16 and U-23 AFC Asian Championships.
According to the VFF, U-20 FIFA World Cup is approaching and the Vietnamese team is trying to have their best performance for the competition. The U-20 team is expected to start a new success era for Vietnam football.